Chapter 21 The Queen's Whisper

Chapter 21 The Queen's Whisper
They say sleep does not come easily, particularly after war and that’s right. 
The scent of ash still clung to me as i heard the voice of people crying somewhere deep in my head. I couldn’t sleep because every time I close my eyes, I see the blood moon watching as if it is judging the path I chose.

I kept hearing a whisper over and over, “find me”. 

Initially, I thought it was guilt speaking until when everywhere became silent and I could hear the same words in my dream.

I stood in the old field of ember dust as the air shimmered like molten glass. Then suddenly, I heard a soft, melodic, ancient voice say, “Daughter of Ember…child of my ash”.

The voice was everywhere and nowhere. It wrapped around me like smoke. It was gentle yet suffocating. The ground glowed beneath my feet, forming shapes like wolves made of fire, locked in battle against wolves carved from silver light. Flames devoured the moons and shadows swallowed dawn.

I whispered into the emptiness, “Who are you?”

The answer came like thunder wrapped in sorrow. “I am the one whose crown was shattered… the fire that refused to die.”

And then I saw her, “The Ember Queen.” Her smile depicts both pride and pain.
“You carry what remains of me. My fire… my burden. The war between flame and moon has not ended, it was only silenced. Now it stirs again.”

She continued…“The bloodline was divided”. Two flames were born of one soul but one is to restore while the other is to ruin. Find the other before the moon takes her heart.”

The moment I heard this, my heart stopped. “The other… you mean my…?”

Before I could finish talking, her image disappeared leaving her last word;

“You need to wake up, my daughter. They are watching.”

I woke up, gasping for breath but my room was already cloaked in darkness. The only thing that shined was the glow under my skin. 

Then a mark of crimson mixed with gold pulsed faintly like a broken crown. It burned me but not painfully.The same symbol that haunted every story whispered in Crescent’s history.

While I was still trying to gather my thoughts,Theron stormed in as his aura was sharp and commanding. His eyes widened the moment he saw me.

“What in the goddess’s name…” He stops as his gaze shifted on my mark. “Aria, what have you done?”

I lifted my hand slowly. “It wasn’t me.”

He frowned and said, “That’s the Queen’s sigil. The curse they sealed centuries ago.”

I whispered, “It’s the Ember Queen. She spoke to me.”

Theron stepped closer, “Spoke to you?”

“She called me Daughter of Ember,” I said with a trembling voice, but I forced myself to keep speaking. “She showed me the war, the fire wolves and moon wolves. And she said the bloodline was divided. Theron there’s absolutely another like me.”

He robbed his hand through his hair, pacing. “The Ember Queen’s war nearly burned this world to ruin. If her spirit truly lingers, it means the prophecy wasn’t a warning, it was a promise.”

I rose to my feet, “You don’t believe me.”

“Belief isn’t the problem, Aria. It’s what it means. If the Queen’s remains lives in you, every pack will see you as her heir. And the last heir brought war.”

Theron's fear was justified and I could feel it, the hum in my veins, the steady rhythm of something ancient that was stirring within me. Every flicker of light sparked heat under my skin. I clenched my fist, and the glow on my wrist became brighter.

Rae appeared in the doorway with his eyes sharp with worry. “I felt the flare from the courtyard. What’s happening?”

Theron turns toward him. “The Queen’s curse has awakened.”

Rae shifted his gaze to me, and for a moment, the world narrows to that look of concern, disbelief, and something that feels dangerously close to awe.

He steps forward. “Let me see it.”

I extended my arm as his fingers felt close, never touching, but I felt the pull, the same spark from his oath weeks ago.

“She’s not cursed,” Rae murmured. “This isn’t dark. It’s… alive.”

Theron responded angrily. “Alive or not, it threatens the pack.”

“Threats don’t shine light,” Rae snaps back.

They began an argument I could barely hear. My pulse quickened as a faint echo trembled in my ears again – that same voice, faint but unmistakable.

“They cannot silence the flame.”

I glanced at Rae. “Did you hear that?”

He frowns. “Hear what?”

The room suddenly grew colder, shadows stretching like reaching hands. The torches flickered as their flames bent toward me instead of upward. My breath catches.

“Aria,” Theron warns, “control it.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

The whisper rose again, louder now as if dozens of voices were speaking through one
“The war is not over. The moon rises to claim what was lost.”

The mark on my wrist shined, casting light across the walls. Rae grabs my shoulders, grounding me as my vision blurs with golden haze. I felt my heartbeat syncing with something vast, ancient, as if the Queen herself breathed through me. Then I suddenly collapsed into Rae’s arms, shaking.

Theron exhales slowly with his voice low. “The curse sleeps within her veins. If it awakens fully…”

“She’s not a curse,” Rae cuts in fiercely. “She’s the key.”

I could barely hear them. My thoughts were like a storm as the Queen’s words spun through my mind like wildfire.
‘Two flames born of one soul.’
Find the other before the moon takes her heart.

I whispered to myself, “She’s real.”

Rae glances down at me. “Who?”

“The other flame,” I murmured. “The one the Queen spoke of.”

“You still think there’s another like you?” Theron said with a frown. 

“I don’t think so.” I lifted my gaze, voice steady despite the tremor in my hands. “I know.”

Later that night, I stood alone outside, the wind carrying the scent of burned wood and rain. The battlefield may be miles away, but the silence here feels heavy. I stared at the mark on my wrist which was now dim but alive like an ember refusing to die.

Every instinct screams that finding the other flame is the key to ending all of this. But a part of me wonders if that’s exactly what the Hollow Flame wants.

Behind me, I heard footsteps into the moonlight. “You should rest,” Rae’s voice came softly.

“I can’t.”

“You saw her again, didn’t you?”

I nodded. “And this time, she wasn’t just warning me. She was calling me.”

Rae held my hands and said, “Then we’ll find her together.”

For a moment, I let myself believe that promise because the world feels less heavy when he said it.

But the moment there was a change in the atmosphere, the mark on my wrist burns again and this time, colder.

In the middle of nowhere in the dark, I could hear a whisper from far:

“Sister… the moon has found me.”

My breath ceased and the flame within me flickered violently. For the first time, I could admit the Queen’s war has already begun again.